Utterly, utterly stupid crap - open-season rant thread

[Daddster]

Maybe I'm just becoming a curmudgeonly old sod, but there are so many baby-related things that annoy me, for example:
surface-clean soft toys (just what are you supposed to do when your DK drops it in a puddle or in the toilet?)
dust-covers on children's hardback books (just how long are they supposed to last?)
"baby einstein" books (what kind of a cynical bastard must you be to put that title on a book and how gullible must you be as a parent to buy it?)
statutory maternity "pay" (this is an utter scandal - 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then up to £117.18 for the remaining 33 weeks - how does any woman manage on that for a year if they are the sole or main breadwinner?)
tax breaks for private schools (how does something so socially divisive get a state subsidy? Why don't we go the whole hog and subsidise gated residential developments as well?)
BoJo (since when do British people vote for stupid people because we find them endearing or aimiably laughable? We are not the US and we do not need Bertie Wooster as Mayor of London)
the school "run" (nuff said)
pushy parents (I cannot get my head around the need for parents to fill their kids' every waking hour with stimulation - they need plenty of down time, otherwise they'll grow up neurotic)
restaurants who refuse to let children in (we were all children once you know)

There must be loads more, but I've run out of energy to rant...

not child related, but newsreaders being forced to stand up. Grrr.

Car seats car seats!

Impossible to clean the covers without a degree in origami impossible not to get dirty.

And the straps...they won't loosen then they won't tighten and they tangle and twist and your're fiddling and swearing at them while your arse is sticking out in the rain and traffic.

When we no longer needed them I wanted to burn them in the garden and dance naked around the flames

Can I add to your list, Daddster: Sun hats for an 18 mo at £15+ because they have added 'essential' UV filters (seen at posh and pointless baby shop in Ealing, W London). I laughed, walked out the shop, then got a hat and sandals at Next for £12. Okay, Next is dull as ditchwater but please. UV filters in a thick, dark khaki hat?!

Charities are simply organisations that provide something beneficial to the public, or a section of it. There is no built-in requirement that whatever they offer must be available to all members of the public regardless of their circumstances. If that were so probably no charities could maintain their status.

So while I have no love for private schools (which are only so-called because they are not owned by the State, not because they are for private groups of people), I recognise that they clearly are, properly speaking, charitable.

And charities simply aren't subsidised. They aren't given tax relief - rather they aren't taxed at all. Not the same thing.

Back to the topic: adults' toilet seats come in standard sizes, so why don't the children's seats that fit into them?

Also back on topic - the warning on legal DVD about priate DVD's that can't be skipped - I know it will not skip but I will still popint the remote at the DVD pushing the button getting more and more annoyed - fu*kers!!

"statutory maternity "pay" (this is an utter scandal - 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then up to £117.18 for the remaining 33 weeks - how does any woman manage on that for a year if they are the sole or main breadwinner?)
"

my gripe would be women who take a year off work to raise a child they decided to have and then give out about how little money they are being paid for not going to work.

"restaurants who refuse to let children in (we were all children once you know)"

come on honestly, wwe all need to get away from them sometimes.

my gripes:
women who wait till they get to the atm, then fish around in their bag for their card, then spend ten minutes checking statements etc before finally taking out 20 euro.
repeat with a second card.
then stand in front of the atm to reorganise their bag instead of stepping aside to do that. all the while a crowd of angry people gather behind.

the off-side rule.

steve staunton ruining my summer.

oh god yes people who get to the front of a cashier - which you have waited 10 mins for - and then act as if they are surprised that someone wants money - and they check all pockets to find wallets!!!!

Oh, have a bit of patience and courtesy, fgs.....

On the subject on indicators- my personal bugbear is when people sit indicating at the side of a busy road that they are going to pull out of their parking space!!!!!!!!

That is NOT WHAT THEY ARE FOR! You scare the crap out of everyone driving past. as they try to second guess if that is actually what you are going to do- ie, pull out suddenly in front of fast moving traffic.

The idea is- wait until it is free, then indicate, THEN MANOUEVRE!!!!!!!!!

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh......

No I don't get it - if you have been waiting - why not at least have your money ready?

why oh why can't people figure out how to use the right lane and indicate properly on roundabouts?
i mean it's on the fucking test so you must have learnt at some point to get your licence?
my sister has had her licence years and doesn't know. and even when i explain it to her she reckons that the proper way doesn't make sense and her way is safer because everyone else is doing it her wrong way. makes my blood boil.

I just sling all those "surface clean only" toys in the washing machine anyway (on the delicate cycle) and then onto a hot heater to dry. If they get ruined, well they'd be out of action anyway once they're covered in vom/yogurt/whatever.

My utterly stupid crap award goes to girls' disney princess dresses. Ok I don't have a girl but - what happened to dressing up being for special occasions, and perhaps even a bit of fun and creativity being involved in making a costume? They just destroy any possibility of variety and interest, look cheap and horrible and extremely flammable, and I'm fed up of seeing them

Ooh, mine is the advert that goes on about special porridge for daddy and porridge for Mummyand porridge for baby - WTF? Porridge is just porridge isn't it? What's wrong with baby having porridge made from oats?

PS everything goes in washing machine here too - or dishwasher.

theBOD, what is the proper way to indicate on roundabouts? I am all twitchy now, convinced I'm doing something wrong...

It's easy to do - you just indicate left immediately after passing an exit if you are coming off at the next.

Or indicate right if you are going round.

Can't tell you how many times i am left sitting at a roundabout by someone who takes an exit without indicating.

It is annoyingly common the amount of people who feel that they don't have to tell other road users where they are going on a roundabout for some reason - but they have no problem with indicating for any other kind of exit.

Bizarre.